The man who lived
FOR HIS sons and brother, the late Archimedes “Archie” R. King was the kind who would delve into the deeper meaning of life through the carefree adventures he had both as a young boy and as a grown-up man.
In an interview with BusinessWorld, Wyden King, chairman and president of Legend Hotels International Corp. and brother of Archie, shared how the memorable and fun childhood they had spent together made their bond as brothers as strong as it was.
“Archie was just a year and three days older than me. I remember him most because he was my first playmate; he was my closest playmate ever. We lived in an area, in Sta. Teresita, Quezon City, where we didn’t have much neighbors in our social level, so we played together. We made most of our first toys out of wood because our parents wouldn’t buy us toys,” Wyden said.
In one of a series of six letters Wyden wrote for his brother, he brought back memories of their woodworking days, how they devised toys out of wood scraps and made believe they were toy trucks traversing imaginary roads on their house’s floor. The letters, full of vivid reminiscences of the brothers’ growing up years, were written by Wyden for his brother when the latter was then sick with pneumonia in Germany in 2013.
Eventually, they discovered the joys of hanging out and playing with other young boys on the streets and learned a lot of street games — some simply enjoyable like flying kites and guryon (a big kite), others were innocently mischievous as homemade explosives and coiled abaca hemp posed as python snake — from them. They had a great time biking together, too, sometimes with their friends, and went as far as their small bikes and hearts would bring them to.
They soon grew up and had their own preferences of friends and of universities to attend. “We went to Xavier and La Salle together, but we parted ways in college; he continued at La Salle and I at Ateneo de Manila University. We had separate barkadas (group of friends). I loved watching Archie build and modify his cars and I’d be interested, inquiring about what he was doing.”
Archie’s famed love for cars was also something he fondly shared with his sons, Ian and Atticus. “My dad was into nice cars, which was something we bonded well with him. We would spend some weekend together just driving around or going to the racetrack to go drifting,” Ian said in an e-mail to BusinessWorld.
Both Wyden and Archie’s sons shared how the late Victoria Court founder enjoyed windsurfing as a hobby.
“When we were already [grownups], we would go surfing together in the beginning until he continued on windsurfing, which he became very good at. After that, I couldn’t keep up with him so I just gave up surfing,” Wyden shared. “But I, sometimes with my own children, would join him once or twice a month in his camping out in Caliraya Lake when we still didn’t have a house there. We would be cooking and setting up tents and bonfires.”
Growing up windsurfing with their father in Caliraya Lake during the weekends was also one of the fondest memories of Ian and Atticus, along with their family trips abroad and traveling to various locations in the Philippines.
They added that their father was an avid pilot and they enjoyed flying around with him, as “he was always looking for an adventure with nature and we always enjoyed that.”
His health was always a top priority for Archie, his sons and brother said. According to Wyden, Archie lived a healthy lifestyle — composed of disciplined diet, gym and exercise — and wanted the outdoors and fresh air as he was sickly and had asthma. His brother was also into this alternative homeopathy healing, he added.
Because of this great importance that Archie had placed on his health, he was able to fully recover from the health crisis that he went through. This, according to Ian, was what he admired most about his father.
“What I looked up to him the most was when he fought back from his sickness in Germany and bounced back to do things that the doctors said he would never be able to do. He had such a strong drive and he never once showed any signs of depression or giving up,” he said.
Asked about the important lessons his father was able to impart to him, Ian answered that they are learning how to stay centered and to develop all areas of life. “Invest heavily in health. He always made sure that we were nurtured not only physically and mentally but also spiritually. He was that person who was physically active, health-conscious and a philanthropist at the same time.”